Page 11 of Clay

It had a nice ring to it and having a small piece of surety in her life right now was just what she needed.

“Nice to officially meet you, Clay, but the circumstances both times suck.”

He nodded. “You’re not wrong there. Can you describe the call to me?”

“Private number, like I said before, with breathing, then a man saying 'there you are’.” She shrugged and took a sip from her water bottle. “It was more the vibe he was giving than the actual words, if that make sense.”

“It does,” he said. “Your security here is pretty decent and the neighborhood is solid enough. Regardless, do you want to move to a safe house?”

She sat back, shocked at his words. A safe house? That was overkill for sure. “No,” she shook her head. “That never even occurred to me. It just seemed like you should know, that’s all.”

His phone chimed again, and he ignored it, continuing to look at her with an intensity that was just short of unnerving.

“Listen, this is just someone trying to scare me. Could have absolutely nothing to do with Katie,” she said, even though she wasn’t positive that was the truth. Had in fact spent some timeconvincing herself itwasconnected. She hated that having some unknown asshole do something as simple as calling her had made her feel so disoriented.

But it wasn't only the call. Having Mr. Hotness staring at her with so much sincere intensity made her nervous in a very, very female way. “Shouldn’t you check your phone?”

He broke eye contact, glancing down, then gave the phone his whole attention.

“The call came from South Carolina,” he said. “We’re triangulating now, but appears to be around Summerville, not too far from Charleston.” He lifted his gaze. “That’s a massive coincidence, and I don’t believe in coincidences, Ivy. What do you know about Katie’s time there, before she moved to Vegas?”

Ivy thought hard. “The usual stuff, life. She had a job as a receptionist at an accounting firm. She didn’t feel like it was going anywhere, so she moved out here after her folks died.” She shrugged. “Losing them so quickly and tragically was really hard on her, and we've always been best friends, so moving here made sense. That’s why her disappearing has me so worried.”

Clay seemed to mull over her words. “Was she dating anyone special that we could contact? We didn’t find anything on her social media that indicated it, but not everyone posts their entire lives or the world to see.”

A tiny smile tipped one corner of his mouth, and her attention scattered for a precious second. This man should smile all the time, she decided, and knew it was something he seldom did. Then she snapped back to the moment.

“Sure, she dated, but no one that was worth more than a mention, and nothing special here either, that I know of, and I'd know. Not too long after her parents passed, she was seeing a cop, but it didn’t work out and she moved here right after.” She put down the water bottle, spread her hands. “I’m her bestfriend. If it was man trouble, she would have told me right away. This must be something else.”

Clay was staring at her again, this time with even more focus, so she just let the words flow. “Listen, I mean it. She wanted a fresh start, and I told her to come live with me to see if Vegas suited. When it did, she got her own place.”

“What about you? Could your caller have been an ex trying to scare you? Someone playing a joke? The fact the call came from across the country suggests otherwise, but I have to ask.”

Ivy shook her head. “No, none of my exes would do something like that. I’m still friendly with most of them and lost touch with the others. No hard feelings.” She knew some of her friends thought it odd that her past relationships didn’t have drama, but in all honesty, she’d never really cared enough to get pissy when something ended. She looked at it as an interlude that had run its course. There was no reason to get mad about that.

He nodded at her words, then changed lanes.

“Were you aware the lease to her apartment was in your name?” His question was quick. Quiet. Efficient. Utterly like him.

“It still is?” she asked. She would have sworn Katie told her she’d switched it over ages ago.

He nodded in response. “Tell me about the cop.”

It was a command, and one she was more than happy to obey. But before she could start talking, he activated the recording app on his phone. “I want to record this, just so my perceptions don’t sway information we may need down the road.”

He pushed the touchscreen, then stated, “Clay Andrews, interviewing Ivy Foster at her residence regarding the disappearance of her friend Katie McAllister. Ms. Foster has retained St. Michael’s Solutions to investigate. Ms. Foster, please tell me about Katie’s life in South Carolina, specificallyabout the relationship had while she lived there. Please add any salient details.”

It was the most she had heard him speak and for a long second she was trapped by the cadence of his words, the timbre of his voice, with a hint of the deep south barely heard. Then she shook herself out of it and got to work.

“Katie was dating this guy, Greg, a cop in one of those little towns right outside the base,” she said, referring to Charleston Air Force Base. “Katie’s family settled there when her mom retired from the military. There’s not too much to tell, they were a couple for a few months, and then they weren’t, and she moved here.”

She shrugged, noted that Clay had been tap-tap-tapping away on his phone as she spoke. “That was two years ago. I can’t imagine him having anything to do with Katie’s disappearance. It’s been too long, and she never said anything about him, really, just that they weren’t suited and so they both moved on.”

Taking a deep breath, she said her worst fear aloud. “What if she was kidnapped?” She was proud her voice was strong, that it didn’t waver.

Clay looked up from his phone, and once again she was snagged in his gaze.

“Then we’ll find her. There’s been no ransom demand, which is obviously a good thing. So she was either taken or she’s gone to ground. Since she packed a bag and there’s no sign of struggle, I’d bet on option number two. And if she’s gone to ground, there’s a reason behind it. We find the reason, and then we find your friend.”

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